It must be “Battle for the Belt” week.

Troy coach Jon Sumrall made it very clear Monday that only one of the teams playing at Hancock Whitney Stadium on Thursday night in the critical Sun Belt contest wanted the conference’s leading tackler Carlton Martial, and it wasn’t South Alabama.

Sumrall, who appeared on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 on Monday, made the comment when it was suggested that there will be South Alabama fans, Troy fans and Martial fans, and that members of the first two groups will be cheering for Martial, a Mobile native.

“Let’s be abundantly clear,” Sumrall said. “Carlton Martial’s section is also a Troy section because South Alabama didn’t recruit him. Let’s make it clear, that Carlton Martial section is biased to Troy because South Alabama didn’t want Carlton. Let’s make that real clear on the front end, not try to act like they wanted him.”

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Martial, a high school standout out at Mobile’s McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, totaled 18 tackles in a 16-7 victory over Marshall last month to set the all-time Sun Belt Conference record with 475 tackles.

While it is true South Alabama didn’t offer the home-grown talent, Troy – led by then-coach Neal Brown – offered Martial a spot as a preferred walk-on in 2017. No other FBS programs showed interest.

Troy (5-2, 3-1 Sun Belt Conference) is coming off a 17-14 win over Texas State.

Meanwhile, South Alabama (5-1, 2-0 Sun Belt Conference) is coming off a 41-34 home win over Louisiana-Monroe.

The Sun Belt Conference’s West Division showdown is set for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised live by ESPNU.

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.